Corrugated receptacle and method of making the same



Nov. 25, 4- 1,516,694

0. E. ATKINSON CORRUGATED RECEPTACLE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed June 4. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 3 imi' iaiwap siuiaiais siui" f v f yer/"lion;

c. E. ATKINSON CORRUGATED RECEPTACLE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Nov. 25, 4-

192 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 4 Patented Nov. 25, 1924.

CHARLES E. ATKINSON, OF FINE LAWN, MISSOUEI, ASSIGNOR- TO E. E. SOUTHE'R IRON COMPANY, OF ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MISSOURI, A CORPORATION OF MISSOURI.

CORRUGATED RECEPTACLE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME.

Application filed June 4,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known. that I, CHARLES E. ATKIN- SON, a c tizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Pine Lawn, in the county of St. Louis and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Corrugated Receptacles and Methods of Making the Same, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in corrugated receptacles and methods of making the same, the object being to produce a strong, simple, light and relatively inexpensive receptacle having a corrugated side wall. More specifically stated, an object of the invention is to produce a metal receptacle of this kind having its corrugations folded and flattened at a margin of the side wall, so that a bottom wall or a closure can be readily applied to the receptacle.

The article I have described as an illustration of one form of the invention oomprises corrugated side walls which are crushed at the ends of the corrugation to provide flat margins and inclines merging into said flat margins and also into uncrushed portions of the corrugations. During the crushing operation, the corrugations are folded in a peculiar manner, as will be hereafter described, so as to form predetermined folds in the metal, and these folds are flattened to provide substantially smooth flat faces at the crushed margins.

A corrugated metal sheet having flat margins can be conveniently used for the side walls of a container, it being a comparatively simple matter to secure the top and bottom walls at the flat margins. Prior to this invention, transformer casings and other receptacles have been provided with corrugated side walls which are exposed to the atmosphere for the purpose of cooling the liquid contents of the receptacles. In the manufacture of such casings, or receptacles, it has been very difficult to firmly and accurately secure the bottom walls to the corrugated side walls. According to the usual practice, transformer casings are made by first forming the corrugated side walls and then inserting the corrugated lower margins of these walls into a mold where the bottom wall is formed by pouring molten 1921. Serial No. 475,049.

metal into mold, so as to integrally connect the bottom wall to the corrugated side walls. Obviously, this old method is both difficult and expensive, especially in the manufacture of very large transformer casings, and it results in the production of casings having very heavy cast metal bottoms.

After the corrugated margins have been crushed and flattened in accordance with the present invention, they can be very easily welded to a simple sheet metal bottom, so as to integrally connect the fiat margins to the bottom.

Fig. I is a vertical section illustrating a transformer casing having its top and bottom margins crushed in accordance with this invention.

Fig. II is a bottom View of the casing shown in Fig. I.

Fig. III is an enlarged view of a portion of one of the side walls showing a corrugated marginal portion crushed and flattened in accordance with this invention.

Fig. IV is a vertical section on the line IV-IV in Figs. III and V.

Fig. V is a bottom view of the sheet shown in Fig. III, the portion of the sheet at the right hand side of the view being in section on the line VV in Figs. III and IV.

Fig. VI is an enlarged section showing the manner in which the corrugated sheets may be united to form a continuous side wall.

Fig. VII is a view similar to Fig. IV, showing the flattened margin welded to the bottom wall of the casing or receptacle.

A designates a corrugated metal sheet forming the side walls of a casing or receptacle and B designates a bottom wall secured to the lower margins of the corrugated sheet. The corrugated side wall may consist of a number of corrugated sections having vertical flanges 1 at their side margins (Fig. VI) and the flanges 1 of the adjoining sections may be welded together to produce a continuous corrugated sheet forming a continuous side wall of the receptacle.

The upper and lower ends of the corrugations are crushed and folded to provide flat margins at the top and bottom of the side walls. I will now refer to Figs. III, IV and V which show a lower margin of the corrugated metal, but it is to be understood that the upper margin may be provided with the bends and folds shown by these views.

A designates a flat margin and A designates inclined faces extending from said flat margin and merging into uncrushed portions of the corrugations. Oppositely disposed three-ply flat folds X are formed at the flat lower end of each corrugation. Inclined two-ply folds X extend from said three-ply fiat folds X and merge into uncrushed portions of the corrugations. The outer plies of each. three-ply fold X are extended in diverging lines so as to form part of the inclined folds X which merge into uncrushed portions of the corrugations.

The manner in which the outer plies of the fiat three-ply folds X are extended to diverge to the whole corrugations at opposite sides of the sheets will be readily understood by referring to Figs. III, IV and V, but a careful study of the drawings and description may be necessary to understand how the interposed ply of each flat three-ply fold is divided so as to form part of the inclined two-ply folds. The interposed ply of each flat three-ply fold X lies between and parallel with the flat outer plies, but this interposed ply must also merge into the uncrushed portions of the corrugations. Fig. V shows that each interposed ply at the flat margin lies transversely to the corrugations which appear in dotted lines crossing the middle of the interposed ply. To form the inclined two-ply folds at X, each of said interposed plies has diverging extensions X (Figs. IV and V) leadingfrom the flat margin and merging into corrugations at opposite sides of the sheet. To understand this by referring to Figs. IV and V, assume that one-half of each interposed {fly is extended to form part of an inclined fold X, while the other half of the same interposed ply is extended to form part of an inclined fold X at the opposite side of the/sheet.

Each inclined two-ply fold X is thus formed partly by an inclined extension leadingfrom one of the flat outer plies and partly by an extension X leading from one-half of an interposed fiat ply. The side edges of each inclined fold X (Figs. III and V) converge from a flat threeply fold X and merge into an uncrushed portion of a corrugation.

Actual practice, in the manufacture of transformer casings, has shown that this method of folding and flattening the margins of corrugated sheets is entirely feasible and that the peculiar folds herein shown can be easily and quickly formed with a high degree of accuracy and at a very low cost.

A closure-receiving bar 3 (Fig. I) is welded to the flat outer face of the upper margin of the receptacle, and a similar bar 4 (Figs. II and VII) is welded to the flat outer face of the lower margin. Each of these reinforcing bars is provided with a flat inner face engaging a flattened face of the corrugated metal, and they may be in the form of angle bars having horizontal flanges extending from the receptacle to receive tie rods 5. The bars 3 and 4 are preferably flush with the flat margins to which they are welded.

The bottom wall B may be a plain flat sheet of metal surrounded by the corrugated side walls and welded to the flat lower margins as shown by Fig. VII. This bottom wall is preferably flush with the extreme lower edge of the flat margin.

The welding operations can be readily performed by the use of an ordinary welding torch, so as to integrally connect the flattened portions of the corrugations to the bottom B and. at the same time effectively seal the folds at these flattened margins, thereby preventing leakage of fluid through the flattened portions of the corrugations. The folds at the flat upper margins are likewise sealed by the welding operation to which they are subjected.

By crushing, folding and flattening the corrugations as herein pointed out, and then welding the flat folds, I produce simple leak-proof corrugated side walls, and a simple flat bottom can be easily welded to the flat lower margins. The resultant product is much lighter and less expensive than a similar receptacle having its bottom cast onto the corrugations. Furthermore, instead of being weakened at the crushed margins, the corrugated sheet is reinforced by the flat folds which are welded together to provide three thicknesses of sheet metal at the top and bottom margins of the receptacle.

I claim:

1. A receptacle having a corrugated side wall, the end portions of the corrugations being flattened at the lower margin of said side wall, said. end portions comprising flat three-ply folds welded to each other and inclined folds at both side faces of said wall leading from said flat three-ply folds and merging into uncrushed portions of the corrugations, and a bottom wall having an outer margin welded to said flat three-ply folds.

Q. A receptacle having a corrugated side wall, the end portions of the corrugations at opposite sides of said wall being flattened at the lower margin of said side wall, said end portions comprising flat three-ply marginal folds and inclined two-ply folds at both side faces of said wall leading from said flat folds and merging into corrugations at opposite sides of said wall, each three-ply flat fold being at the flat lower ends of two adjoining corrugations, and each two-ply fold being extended from only one of said threeply folds, the elements of said flat three-ply folds being welded together, and

a bottom Wall Welded to said flat three-ply folds.

3. A receptacle having a corrugated side Wall, the end portions of the corrugations being flattened at the top and bottom margins of said side Wall, each of said flattened end portions comprising fiat three-ply marginal folds and inclined two-ply folds at both side faces of said Wall leading from said flat three-ply folds and merging into corrugations at opposite sides of the wall, each fiat three-ply fold being at an end of tWo adjoining corrugations, the elements of said flat three-ply folds being Welded together, a reinforcing bar Welded to the flat three-ply folds at the top margin of said side Wall, a bottom Wall surrounded by and Welded to the flat three-ply folds at the bottom margin of said side Wall, and a reinforcing bar surrounding and Welded to the last mentioned folds.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I hereunto affix my signature.

CHARLES E. ATKINSON. 

